There are few more reliable barometers of a society than our travel aspirations. And the backlash to the shape-shifting political landscape of the past two years has been thrillingly fast, fierce and female. All-women societies, clubhouses, retreats and trips are on the rise, and none of these new-generation collectives have the faintest whiff of WI marmalade about them. This summer sees the launch of SuperShe Island in Finland, a physical extension of the SuperShe networking group, with a core circle of 100 women selected by founder Kristina Roth.

‘Our goal is to create a space where women can come together to care for themselves through fitness, nutrition and nurturing creativity,’ says Roth. Guests at the 10 cabins on this eight-acre island in the Baltic Sea can get involved with mindful courses such as yoga and meditation plus workshops. Meanwhile, the London Girls Surf Club, set up by creative director and fashion editor Kylie Griffiths, is shaking up the world of adventure travel. The LGSC’s aim is to make surfing accessible to landlocked ladies by hosting surfing holidays for women to destinations such as Croyde in Devon and Morocco’s Taghazout.

London Girls Surf Club

Carl Wilson

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The organisation also links up with charities to offer lessons to underprivileged young adults. Back in London, AllBright, an all-women alternative to tweedy gentlemen’s clubs (with founder members including actor Naomie Harris, fashion designer Mary Katrantzou and entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox), is opening a members’-club in Bloomsbury this month. The AllBright Fund backs women-led businesses, AllBright Academy is targeting the one in 10 women who say they want to start their own business, and The AllBright townhouse is a place for them to network and celebrate female talent.

‘In a female environment, women are more likely to speak up, talk about their successes and be a bit more open and honest about some of the challenges that they face – because frankly, it’s quite hard often being the only woman in the room,’ says AllBright co-founder Anna Jones, former CEO of Hearst magazines. But in 2018, the centenary year of women’s suffrage, do we really need organisations similar to the ones founded in cities around the globe in the 1930s?

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‘The UK is still not a great place to be a woman in business,’ insists AllBright co-founder Debbie Wosskow, OBE. ‘Only one in six people in leadership positions in big corporates are women. We set up AllBright to try to change the economic landscape and provide an eco-system for us.’

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Her sentiments are echoed by Joanna Payne, founder of Marguerite, a network catering specifically for women in the arts. ‘With everything that has come to light in the news over the past 18 months, with regards to Trump and the ensuing women’s marches, the #MeToo campaign and most recently, the sexual-harassment allegations in the art world, no one can deny that there is much to be gained from women coming together to share their experiences,’ says Payne, who previously worked for Frieze Art Fair.

The Wing founders Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan, Soho, New York

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Marguerite is currently London-based – organising studio visits to artist Celia Hempton’s workspace and hosting discussions with talents such as fashion designer Roksanda and Tate director Maria Balshaw – but this summer it will branch out with new events in New York. There they join The Wing, which has close to 1,200 all-female members includes writer and editor Tavi Gevinson, broadcaster Jessica Williams and transgender model Hari Nef. Founded by Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan, its first co-working-space-meets-clubhouse opened in New York’s Flatiron district in October 2016. Since then, they have launched other pastel-coloured hubs in SoHo and Brooklyn, with more chalked up for Washington DC and the West Coast. Also in California, Phoebe Lovatt runs The WW (Working Women) Club – an online platform full of advice and inspiration – and hosts pop-up socials. If all-female initiatives have one thing in common, it’s soul.

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‘We believe that great things happen when you put women together,’ says Jones. ‘This is not about excluding men, it’s about celebrating women.’